John 13:16-20 | Jacob Peter Gowy | No servant is greater than his master

John 13:16-20   No Servant is greater than his Master

The Fall of Icarus, Light projection by Jacob Peter Gowy (1610-after 1644), Painted in 1635, Oil on canvas © Museo del Prado, Madrid After he had washed the feet of his disciples, Jesus said to them: ‘I tell you most solemnly, no servant is greater than his master, no messenger is greater than the man who sent him. ‘Now that you know this, happiness will be yours if you behave accordingly. I am not speaking about all of you: I know the ones I have chosen; but what scripture says must be fulfilled: Someone who shares my table rebels against me. ‘I tell you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe that I am He. I tell you most solemnly, whoever welcomes the one I send welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.’   READ MORE     Reflection on the Painting  Today’s Gospel reading ultimately is about pride. ‘No servant is greater than his master’. Pride means self-centeredness and self-focussedness and therefore steals glory from God. When we crave for praise and attention from other people, then our happiness becomes completely dependent on others, rather than being dependent on God. This then leads to stealing our joy as well, as it is rooted in just earthly desires. Anyway, a good example of this is the story of Icarus. He was punished for being too proud in his flying, as he wanted to fly too high and too close to the sun. As we know, the sun's closeness melted the wax off his wings and sent Icarus falling back down to earth. In our painting, we can see all this expressed in Icarus’ body language: he is so happy and proud that he is throwing his arms around, but his feathers have melted and only a few feathers are left strapped to his arms. Daedalus, Icarus’ father, looks towards his son falling headlong into the void and is unable to save him. The painting therefore also represents the painful loss of a son. We also see two small figures on the beach, Daedalus and Icarus strapping the wings before starting their flight. Our painter, Jacob Gowy, collaborated with Rubens in the mid 1630s on a commission for the Spanish King and we can cleary see Rubens’ dramatic and theatrical stage setting in this painting (Rubens also did a version of this painting). Jesus in our gospel reading today calls us to be the opposite of being prideful: to be humble. When humble, our happiness doesn’t depend on whether others notice our work, efforts, achievements or not. Then we could be gracefully secure in who we are, as our happiness wouldn’t depend on what others think. Humility removes the anxiety of the constant need for recognition and lets us shine whatever situation we find ourselves in… by Patrick van der Vorst